The use of batteries to power portable computing devices (e.g., laptop computers, palmtop computers, personal digital assistants (PDA's), etc.) typically offer users the flexibility of operating the devices where ever the user desires. However, the current state of battery technology is not capable of providing an indefinite supply of power to the devices. This is due, at least in part, to the amount of power that may be consumed by some of the components of a portable computing device. Components such as the display, processor, and hard disk drive are typically responsible for a large portion of the power used by mobile devices.
Consequently, many portable computing devices have a stand-by or idle mode that attempts to reduce the amount of power that is consumed when the device is not actively being used by the user. However, these low-power modes attempt to deactivate many, if not all, of the components in the portable computing device. For example, the PC98 Design Guide proposed by Intel Corporation and Microsoft Corporation calls for power to be removed from the main processor when the computing device is turned off. In addition, when power to the main processor is removed, power is also removed from any of the components in a portable computing device that share the same power source.
Consequently, the other components of the portable computing device may not be used. This generally prohibits any wireless or wired communication with other components or a network when the main processor is disabled. Thus, there is a continuing need for better ways to improve the operation of portable communication devices.